Track recorder



Oct. 9, 1951 RD 2,570,648

TRACK RECORDER Filed June '7, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. I.

IN V EN TOR. E FINEST A. ERA WFURD ATJZUENE? Oct. 9, 1951 Filed June 7. 1947 E. A. CRAWFORD TRACK RECORDER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 EHNES TA. CPA WFUED ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 9, 1951 to Sperry Products, 1110., Hobokeii;

poration of New York Application Jane-7,1947, sria'i ita'i'i G'Glaims. (01. 116 124? This invention relates to a railway track re: corder mechanism and more particularly to a: device for indicating the angle of inclination be tween a railway car' body' and the car axle. Suclr angle of inclination is a factor which itis'highly desirable to know since it isan index of the" proper banking of tracks around curves and also is an indication of the car body performance. These factors enter largely in providing safe' travel, especially around curves. 7 Various move ments of the car body with respect to the axle" H take place other than those resulting in relativelnclination between the car body and the axle, such as, for example, car body bounce, r tation of the track unit about its center bearing when curves in the track are encountered, and shift of the car body ina horizontal plane. It is a further objectof this invention to provide means which will indicate the inclination be tween the car body and the axle and which will" not be affected by the hereinbefore mentioned movements so that such movements which dd not result in relative angular inclination be:

tween the car body and the axle will not be in dicated.

Further objects and advantages of thismean tion will become apparentin the following de tailed description thereof.-

In the accompanying dr'awings,

Fig. l is in parta frontelevation partly sec: tioned vertically, and. in part an isometric projection, of a portion of a railway car showing" my, invention applied thereto.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view, mostly sectioned vertically, of the inclination responsive mechanism employed in Fig; 1

Referring to the drawings there is showna por' tion of a car body [0 having an-axle II and flange wheels l2- adapted 'to ride on the rails of;

a railway track.- The various conventionalmechanisms by" which the car body is supported on the trucks, of which only the axle I I is shown, have been omitted. It is desired as stated in the introduction hereto to indicate any out o f'parallelism between the axis of axle H and the horizontal base of the car body which results in tilting of the car body particularly when travelling" around curves.

It is a further purpose of this invention to provide such mechanism which will not'be'affected by relative movements between the car body and the-axle which do notresult in change which are connecte by ses me connectors 1' I necting passaesof has 1 151atioiishii! between the car body and accomplish he above'purpose I provide hydraiili c" elements indicated gene-mug at 20 and and, 21: w the finderside oi jthe car body; The hydraulic nemesis 20 and 211' each comprises a cylinder 22', 22" and 13 ten 33, 23". n h dr'aiilic e1eifient zo' his 63 22 is fixedly d nec'td to the 21' while inj'hydraii'licle ment 20' the pisto n 23" is fixedly connected pa the fixt'iir 21". The 1 re" 21 i jpro'vided with a bore 2:4 communicatingthrough pipe w' H a bore 24" n fixture 2 Thebo reM" commiihij @ais a ia i it WlQ i fi Q. w th n ls 1? whereby the bore 2}!" cornmunicates with the in; terior of cylinder 22. v The piston 23 is movable within the fixed" cylinder 22 and is connected at its lower end by a fixture 30 to one end of the a'xle.-' The movable cylinder 22" sliding on the piston 23 is connected through afixtur 30' tothe other endof axle I l'.

Two-fluid chamber-s3 I and" 3 l-' are thusformed in the cylinders 22 and 22" respectively. Down ward nfover'n'ent of axle" u" parallel to the car body floor" resu piston 23" being drawn downwardly to" ein ge th i idlll'lile of chamber 31, whilecyl-inder 22" downwardly" diminish the volume; of'chamber 3 I". If the we cylinders are so desi'gn'e thatth'a" a'of pistohf' 23' minus-the area o'rfixmi 2ft e uals the arfzl" of piston 23; and if; the cha 'rsand'tne' ss ri'system- 24', I and 24" are maintained filled with nuid, such movement will'lr'nerely result thetranslfer' of liquid through the syst efmwithont diminish ing or increasing the total fluid volume 01 the" y, i system. Similarly upward movement of axle N 40" parallel to'the car body floor will result in piston 23 being moved upwardiyto diminish'the volume of chamber 31,- whilecyli'nde'r' z z' ismovea up; wardly' to" increase th vol'ilme'of" chamber 3 d. w thout r e sultantincline tion of the car may with respect t6 the axle} of" 5 ume of chamber 3 I, and cylinder 22' is moydufi wardly to increase the volume of chamber 3|, then it will be seen that the total volume of the transmission system (consisting of chamber 3|, passageways 24, 25, 24, 26 and chamber 31') has been increased. A connection 35 leads from the transmission system to a reservoir 36 having a chamber 31 filled with fluid and under pressure by spring 38 pressing upon piston 39. As the fluid volume of the transmission system enlarges due to the inclination of the axle relative to the car body, piston 39 will be moved to the right in Fig. 1 to supply more fluid to the system. Such movement of the piston may be indicated by any suitable indicator such as a pen P operating on a moving chart C normally to draw a straight line as shown at 40 but when the piston moves in response to changes of fluid requirements in the transmission system ofisets such as shown at 4| are made by the pen.

If the angl of inclination is in the opposite direction with respect to the car body so as to move piston 23 upwardly to diminish the volume of fluid chamber 2| and cylinder 22 is moved downwardly to diminish the volume of fluid chamber 31, the total fluid volume of the transmission system will be diminished and fluid will be forced through pipe 35 into chamber 3! of reservoir 36, to move piston 39 to the left and cause pen P to indicate an offset, as shown at 42, on the opposite side of line 40.

It will thus be seen that only relative inclination between the car body and the axle will result in movement of fluid into or out of the transmission system 22, 24, 25, 24, 22 and hence actua tion of the indicating mechanism. Other movements, such as car bounce, horizontal shift of the car body or rotation of the car body around the truck axis will merely transfer fluid from one side of the transmission system to the other without increasing or diminishing the fluid volume of the system and hence without adding to or subtracting from the fluid in the system. Therefore, only relativ inclination between the car body and the axle will be indicated.

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A device for indicating relative tilt between a car body and the car axle, comprising a hydraulic system including a pair of spaced, communicating hydraulic elements between the car body and the axle, each element comprising a cylinder and a piston therein to form a fluid chamber, the piston of one element and the cylinder of the second element being connected to the car body to move therewith, and the cylinder of the first element and the piston of the second element being connected to the axle to move therewith.

2. A device for indicating relative tilt between a car body and th car axle, comprising a hydraulic system including a pair of spaced, communicating hydraulic elements between the car body and the axle, each element comprising a cylinder and a piston therein to form a fluid chamber, the piston of one element and the cylinder of the second element being connected to the car body to move therewith, the cylinder of the first element and the piston of the second element being connected to the axle to move therewith, and a reservoir for supplying liquid to said system when the total capacity of the chambers increases and for receiving liquid from said system when the total capacity of the chambers decreases.

3. A device for indicating relative tilt between a Car body and the car axle, comprising a hydraulic system including a pair of spaced, communicating hydraulic elements between the car body and the axle, each element comprising a cylinder and a piston therein to form a fluid chamber, the piston of one element and the cylinder of the second element being connected to the car body to move therewith, the cylinder of the first element and the piston of the second element being connected to the axle to move therewith, a reservoir for supplying liquid to said system when the total capacity of the chambers increases and for receiving liquid from said system when the total capacity Of the chambers decreases, and indicating means actuated in response to the supply of fluid in said system.

4. A device for indicating relative tilt between a car body and the car axle, comprising a hydraulic system including a pair of spaced, communicating hydraulic elements between the car body and the axle, each element comprising a cylinder anda piston therein to form a fluid chamber, the piston of one element and the cylinder of the second element being connected to the car body to move therewith, the cylinder of the first element and the piston of the second element bein connected to the axle to move therewith, a reservoir for supplying liquid to said system when the total capacity of the chambers increases and for receiving liquid from said system when the total capacity of the chambers decreases, and indicating means actuated in response to the supply of liquid in the reservoir.

5. A device for indicating relative tilt between a car body and the car axle, comprising a hydraulic system including a pair of spaced, communicating hydraulic elements between the car body and the axle, each element comprising a cylinder and a piston therein to form a fluid chamber, the piston of one element and the cylinder of the second element being connected to the car body to move therewith, the cylinder of the first element and the piston of the second element being connected to the axle to move therewith, and indicating means actuated in response to the differential movement of the members movable with the axle.

6. A device for indicating relative tilt between a car body and the car axle, comprising hydraulic system including a' pair of spaced, communicating hydraulic elements between th car body and the axle, each element comprising a cylinder and a piston therein to form a fluid chamber, th pistonof one element and the cylinder 'of the second element being connected to the car body to move therewith, the cylinder of th first element and the piston of the second element being connected to the axle to move therewith, and indicating means actuated in response to the differential expansion and contraction of the fluid chambers of said cylinders.

ERNEST A. CRAWFORD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,543,061 Danielson June 23, 1925 1,804,212 De Giers May 5, 1931 1,843,959 Sperry Feb. 9, 1932 1,881,266 De Giers Oct. 4, 1932 2,058,564 Carter Oct. 27, 1936 2,167,081 Mauzin July 25, 1939 

